Machiattos & Muffins
by justareader13
Summary: Working at a café had it's ups and downs for Steve and then he showed up.


Working at a cafe had it's ups and downs. At first Steve liked it, even loved it. He eventually progressed to hating it and now he was just numb to it all. He'd fallen into a routine. The work itself was mostly repetitive and he could do it on autopilot but it was nowhere near fulfilling. The only reason he hadn't quit yet was because he liked the people he worked with. He hadn't had that many friends in high school. He was the small scrappy kid who talked shit to the bullies, any friend he had would be a target too but he had Bucky then. Steve went off to art school and Bucky was at a technical college miles away which left him once again alone. He was partial to his roommate, Pietro, who helped him get this job but it was at the cafe where he found his kindred spirits and also learned the art of restraint.

Half, if not most, of their customers were just fine. They largely served business men in the morning, tourists and random families throughout the day and then college students in the evening but there were those people who just grated on his nerves and it took everything in him to not hop over the counter and pick a fight. He managed it somehow and even thought of clever and admittedly petty ways to get his back without getting a write-up... again. Still, sometimes he just couldn't help his ire.

It was close to 7 pm the first time he came in. Steve was wiping down the counter while Wanda cleaned off the bar fridges when he approached the register. Steve looked up with a smile at the taller man. The man looked angry and he clutched his backpack like he wanted to swing it at someone.

"Hello sir, what can I-"

"Just give me a medium cold-brew, black. And no I don't want a large for however much more or a snack and I'm not a member. I just want my coffee." Steve stared at the man and he could feel Wanda staring at the side of his face, mentally pleading with him to just let it go. Steve stared a moment longer before putting on another affected smile.

"Of course. Your name?"

"Does it matter? There's no one else." Steve took a deep breath and handed the cup off to Wanda lest he do something undignified.

"That'll be $2.89." The man handed off the money before walking away. Steve threw the change into the register before slamming it closed, ripping the receipt and throwing it in the trash. He walked towards the back where the assistant cafe manager, Natasha, was doing inventory. She rose an eyebrow at him as he stormed in.

"Excuse you very fucking much. Do you think I want to ask you a million and one damn questions? I want to go home same as you buddy, we're all stressed. That doesn't give you an excuse to be an asshole." Natasha, already used to Steve rambling with no context behind it, nodded sympathetically.

"It's almost over. You're gone in an hour."

"I swear to God, I just wanna..." Steve trailed off with a frustrated groan.

"You wanna go stand in the walk-in for a second? I'll watch out for costumers." Steve nodded before stomping to the fridge and leaning against the shelves. His brittle bones wouldn't thank him for the self-imposed chill later on but for now he ignored that. He hoped to God he didn't have to see that guy ever again.

* * *

A week had passed and Steve had already forgotten about the rude customer. He had his portfolio to build and other important things to focus on. He was working a night shift again when the man came in. He was working the bar this time with Helen on register. He was barely paying attention to anything beyond cleaning his area and making the two drinks.

"Large iced almond caramel machiatto for Sam and a medium mochaccino for Misty." He said, putting the drinks on the bar without looking up.

"Thanks." Steve nodded in response, focused on cleaning one of the espresso machines. He looked up after a moment as the man still hadn't left. His eyes widened slightly when he realized it was the rude customer from a week prior.

"Hi, um, I just wanted to apologize. I acted like an ass last time I was in here. I'm really sorry. I'm usually not like that."

"He really isn't. This is a guy who would hold up traffic so a family of ducks can cross the road." A woman with a shiny afro called from the condiment bar.

"I was ten pages into a 25 page essay and I hit a wall. That along with... well, that's no excuse. I'm sorry again." Steve was frozen for a moment, he'd never had a customer come back and apologize to him so he wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, as a result he didn't say anything. The man smiled at him once more, his face a mixture of embarrassment and regret, before he walked away with the woman. Steve turned to Helen to see her smile largely at him.

"That's never happened before." Steve shrugged. He peeked over the espresso machine at the man. He had been too caught up in anger to take in the man's appearance. He actually looked pretty good, well not just good, he was friggin' attractive. He was wearing a tight purple shirt that made the muscles of his arms pop out and his hips were slightly jutted out as he leaned against the sidebar talking to his friend. He laughed and smiled revealing a gap between his two front teeth that just made Steve want to pinch his cheeks. Helen giggled beside him and Steve turned to see her shaking her head.

"Only you, Rogers." Steve didn't bother mentioning the fact that Helen had met her girlfriend at the cafe. He shook his head and went back to his work, passing the encounter off as just another strange one in a string of strange encounters since he started this job.

* * *

Most people hated working maintenance at the cafe but Steve didn't mind. It meant limited interactions with customers and he could organize the backroom which he kept meaning to do.

"Hey Steve." He looked over to see Colleen peering at him.

"You know how to make boba tea, right?"

"We don't have the tapioca bubbles but I can make the tea itself. Why?"

"A customer was wondering if we could make it. I said you might be able to."

"I'll be right there." He wiped his hands and stepped out from the backroom. Wanda was standing there giving him a look as he passed her and when he looked up it was only to see the rude/not-so-rude customer there. The man turned to him and his eyes gleamed with recognition.

"Oh, um, hi." The man said looking nervously. Steve shook it off. He was over the little episode already but the man didn't know that, which could provide some entertainment.

"You needed something?"

"I was just looking for boba tea but if you don't have it, it's okay. I don't want to be a bother."

"We don't have the tapioca bubbles but I can make the tea." The man still looked unsure so Steve decided to drop the distant demeanor and smiled at the man.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna poison you. It's no trouble to make it. I'll make a sample first so you can taste it." The man smiled hesitantly at him and nodded. Steve grabbed the iced tea shaker and poured some black iced tea into it along with a little milk and some honey. He poured it in a small sample cup and handed it to the man so he could taste it. He watched in satisfaction as his eyes lit up.

"That's perfect actually."

"Good. Ring him up for an black iced tea." He mixed the drink for a larger version and handed it off to the man once Colleen finished ringing him up.

"Listen, I'm really sorry again about how I acted a while back." The man said as Steve gave him the drink. He shook his head in response.

"You really don't have to keep apologizing. We all have bad days, I get it."

"Still, that wasn't an excuse so I apologize again." The man said nodding his head. He turned to walk away but for some reason Steve felt an urge to stop him.

"How'd it go?" He called after him. The man turned back at him curiously.

"Your paper, the 25-page essay, how'd it go?"

"I got a B+. Not what I was aiming for but better than a C, right?"

"Better than me that's for sure. I hate writing essays. I'm an art major at SHIELD. I do better with showing things than writing it out and explaining it."

"I go to SHIELD too. I'm a psychology major. Funny, I've never seen you around."

"It's a pretty big campus, easy to get lost in the shuffle."

"Yeah, yeah I guess it is. Anyway, I better let you get back to work. I'm sorry again... Steve." He said, reading Steve's name from his name tag.

"It's not a problem and I hope this is the last time you apologize..." Steve trailed off so the man could fill in the blank.

"Oh, I'm Sam. Sam Wilson."

"Sam, right. Good to meet you, Sam." Sam nodded to him with a smile.

"See you around, Col." Sam said to Colleen before he walked off to his table. Steve turned and walked back to backroom, rolling his eyes as footsteps followed straight after him.

"What was Sam apologizing for?" Colleen asked, following him to the sink.

"First time he was in here he was pretty rude."

"That's not like Sam."

"So I've gathered."

"He's my girlfriend's best friend so I know him pretty well. He's annoyingly polite, I mean _annoyingly_ so. He must've been pretty stressed when he first came in here."

"Guess so." Colleen paused and then smiled cheekily at him.

"But you seemed to have gotten over it quickly, running out here to make him boba tea."

"You asked me to." Steve reminded her.

"Uh-huh. But I didn't ask you to ask about his paper or anything." Colleen pointed out.

"I was making small talk. It's called being polite." Steve said in his defense.

"You're not polite, you're a stubborn little shit."

"Thanks for the confidence boost, I feel it in spades." Steve deadpanned.

"I'm keeping it real."

"Please don't say that again. Wanda's out there alone, you should probably go back out there."

"Fine but I'm watching you, Rogers."

"Good to know." Steve rolled his eyes as Colleen walked off. She was a little ridiculous sometimes and prone to seeing things that weren't there. She liked to think of herself as the cafe's matchmaker but Steve wasn't about to be taken in by her ridiculous schemes.

* * *

Sam comes in two days later and Steve's on register that day.

"Good morning." He says cheerfully. Steve's taken slightly aback, his smile was a lot wider than he'd seen it before. His whole deposition was sunnier somehow.

"You're in a good mood. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"It's just this sociology midterm I took. I was sure I failed it but I got the highest grade in the class."

"Congratulations." Steve said with genuine sincerity.

"It's a load off for sure. Zemo, my teacher, is a Nazi, I swear."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I took Sociology 101 with him as an elective last year. I barely got out of that class kicking and screaming."

"Tell me about it. Anyway, I think I'll stick to tea today. I'm hyper enough as is. Black iced tea, the way you made it the other day if you don't mind."

"Sure thing. I'll even make it myself." Steve rung him up and switched places with Sharon who was on bar. He grabbed the shaker and made Sam's drink for him, quickly handing it off.

"How's your portfolio going?" Sam asked randomly. Steve looked at him with confusion, he never mentioned anything about a portfolio.

"My friend Leila is an art major too. She's been stressing about pulling together her portfolio and diversifying it enough. How's yours going?"

"Pretty well actually. I don't do much photography but there's this new requirement that says at least 5% of our portfolios need to be photography and we've got to diversify _that,_ which is BS obviously. What do I need photography for? Other than that though I think it's going well. If your friend is having trouble she should go see Ms. Rambeau. She's real good at sparking inspiration."

"I think inspiration is what she needs more than anything because if I have to sit down for another six hours so she can sketch my jawline, I'll lose my mind." Steve's eyes switched to Sam's jawline and his eyes got stuck there. Now that he mentioned it the angles of his jaw were pretty good concepts for his up-close representational charcoal sketch.

"Oh no, I know that look. Leila gets that look way too often for me not to know that look."

"Your jaw is a really good muse, your whole face is actually. The angles of your cheekbones along with your jaw and your ears, I could probably make an almost 3-D representational sketch. It'd looked really good in my portfolio."

"I'm gonna take your blatant objectifying as a compliment and save you the trouble." Steve snapped out of his artist's haze and blushed scarlet.

"Sorry, I get lost in myself sometimes. My Ma always said it was rude to talk about people like they were just things to draw. She'd have a conniption if she saw me now."

"Don't worry about it, man. Let's not get stuck apologizing to each other all the time again."

"To be fair, you were an asshole." Steve slapped his hand over his mouth in shock, he hadn't meant to let that slip out. Sam chuckled like the laugh was startled out of him, like he wasn't expecting that anymore than Steve was.

"True." Sam said, smiling down at him. Steve returned the smile before looking down in embarrassment.

"Steve." He turned to Sharon and stood up straight as he saw a line beginning to form.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." Steve said, nodding in Sam's direction before running off to help Sharon, ignoring the way his body shivered slightly as the blush receded. Sharon glanced at him knowingly but didn't make any comment to him.

* * *

Sam came in three more times after that and he and Steve had little conversations each time. Usually it was just small talk and oriented around school but somehow Steve would end up saying something he didn't mean to say which would leave him embarrassed and Sam laughing before walking off, leaving Steve to try to shake off the encounter and not let his mind race with any possibilities. He managed to keep everything to himself before the last person he wanted involved found out.

"Hey Steve?" Natasha asked him one day as Steve was stocking the pastry case.

"What's up?"

"Who's Sam? Colleen seems to be convinced that you two are going to get married and have babies one day. If you had a boyfriend you shouldn't have had me talked your ear off about Lillian."

"Sam is not my boyfriend. He is a customer who I have had limited interactions with who just so happens to be Colleen's friend. Now she's got in her head that we're some grand love story waiting to happen."

"Are you?"

"Come on, Nat." Steve replied, giving her a look.

"Apparently you're make tea specially for him every time he comes in." She replied, a smirk on her lips.

"I've made it for him three times, that's it. It's not something that so out of the way, it's just black iced tea with some sweetener and milk, it's nothing special."

"Yeah but you also don't tend to have overly long conversations with customers either."

"You want me to stonewall the guy? You're always saying I should talk to people more."

"I'm just saying maybe Colleen's onto something."

"Fat chance of that."

"Because you don't want it to or because you're too afraid to do anything about it?" She asked.

"You are not going to goad me into doing anything crazy again."

"You mean it was actually possible to goad you into doing something you didn't want to do at some point?" Steve jumped and turned to see Sam standing on the other side of the pastry case.

"Sam, hi." Steve said. His hands tightened involuntarily on the plate he was holding. He put it down lest he drop it or something.

"Hey, Colleen said you guys we're unveiling the pumpkin muffins today so I ran over." Sam said, pointing to where Colleen was ringing up customers on the register. There was a couple with six kids who couldn't decide what drinks they wanted so it would be a while.

"Yup, they're fresh actually. I'm sure Steve can tell you all about them." Natasha said with a smile before walking off, shooting Steve a sideways glance as she passed. He would roll his eyes if Sam wasn't standing there. Steve turned to look at Sam after she was gone.

"You really want to have a peak into my expansive knowledge of pumpkin muffins because, spoiler alert, it's not that expansive. It's actually just limited to 'the muffins are good, you should get them'."

"Lucky for you that's all I need to know. I'll take four. If Leila, Riley and Misty find out I got one without getting them ones too I'll never hear the end of it. Oh, Leila wants me to extend a thanks to you. Ms. Rambeau really helped get her creative juices flowing and she's right back on track with her portfolio."

"Good, I didn't do much though. I just made a suggestion."

"To Leila it's tandem amount to saving her from a burning building. Plus, it got her off my back about my jawline so thanks from both of us."

"Buy me a drink if you really want to thank me."

 _Oh, fuck you._ Steve thought at himself as his words caught up with him. Sam's eyes widened in surprise before he smiled at him.

"Sure, why not?" It was Steve's turned to be surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Steve stared him in equal parts shock and disbelief, both at the fact that he had asked the guy out and that he had agreed. Sam laughed a little at his expression before pulling his bag off his back. He pulled a piece of paper and his pen out and wrote on the paper quickly before handing it to Steve.

"Call me and we can set it up." Steve nodded numbly before looking back up at Sam who hadn't moved.

"I do want my muffins though."

"Right, yeah, of course." He grabbed the four muffins and put them in a box before handing them off to Sam. He escaped as quickly as he could to the back under the guise of retrieving more muffins to bake and immediately saw Natasha hiding behind the door with a smirk on her lips.

"So I guess you weren't as disinterested as you made it seem."

"I don't know why you're so happy. It's not even Lillian or one of the million and one other people you try to set me up with."

"It's not about who you're dating, it's about the fact that you're putting yourself out there at all. It's good and he's hot. Nice job." Steve rolled his eyes, wanting to take the high road but a part of him felt giddy.

"He is hot." He said with a grin.

"If Colleen asks though, I got his friend Leila's number, not his. I don't want to give her the satisfaction. Besides, I don't need her hounding me, I've got a date to think about." It had been so long since Steve had even thought about dating but he found he was excited about it. A month ago he was practically wishing for a piano to fall on the guy and now he was going to go on a date with him. Wait until Bucky finds out about this.


End file.
